On October 19, the company said: "Microsoft is investigating a situation affecting a limited number of users updating their Windows RT devices to Windows RT 8.1.

"As a result, we have temporarily removed the Windows RT 8.1 update from the Windows Store. We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience. We will provide updates as they become available."

The recovery image comes in a 3.7GB download that will restore Surface RT devices to their original state.

Instructions indicate that the download is intended to address the start-up errors.

Microsoft says that users require a USB drive with over 4GB of storage, as well as a PC with Windows 7 or later to be able to get the recovery image loaded.